Monitoring Desk
RAWALPINDI: Shadab Khan’s all-round performance trumped Aamir Jamal’s batting heroics to guide Islamabad United to victory over Peshawar Zalmi in the 20th match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 9 here on Monday.
Peshawar Zalmi opted to field first and drew first blood as Saim Ayub bowled Alex Hales on the first ball of the innings.
Colin Munro hit Ayub for a six and a four in the next over, but the bowler had the last laugh as he dismissed the batter while attempting for another boundary.
With Islamabad United stranded at 28-2 in three overs, skipper Shadab Khan and Salman Ali Agha joined hands to help the team recover. They knitted a 65-run partnership for the third wicket in 44 balls to push the team’s total to 90 in 10 overs.
However, Salman Irshad got Agha caught behind in the 11th over to break the partnership and force a comeback for the visitors.
Agha went to the pavilion after a gutsy 37 off 25, which featured four boundaries and two sixes.
Khan was joined by Jordan Cox for another brilliant partnership which accumulated 68 runs in 39 balls, dominated by the captain. Khan played a blistering innings and hit 10 boundaries including six sixes on his way to a 51-ball 80 before Luke Wood got the prized wicket with 161 runs on the board.
Azam Khan then played an unbeaten cameo of 29 runs from 14 balls with the help of four boundaries and one six to push the team’s total to 196-4 in their allocated 20 overs.
Cox remained unbeaten at 26 off 20, featuring two boundaries and one six.
For Peshawar Zalmi, Saim Ayub led the bowling charts with figures of 2-15, while Wood and Irshad bagged one wicket each.
Meanwhile, Karachi Kings’ assistant coach Ravi Bopara on Sunday, threw his weight behind experienced all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz to “come good” for the side in the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL) 9, terming him “credit in the bank”.
Bopara addressed the post-match press conference after Karachi Kings’ 20-run defeat against leaders Multan Sultans at the iconic National Bank Stadium and opened up on the ongoing rough patch of Nawaz. “Nawaz has been playing T20 cricket for many many years, playing the PSL from the day it started,” said Bopara.
“So, he’s built, he’s credit in the bank. Someone like him, who’s played international cricket, you got to give them a run, you can’t just drop them after four to five games.
They’ve got to have a long run. They deserve to have a long run when they’ve played [so] much cricket.
“Lower averages say that people at that level at international cricket, they come good at some stage. And, you got to back them long enough to give them a chance to get to that stage.”
Ravi Bopara further commented on the revamped Karachi Kings’ squad and the rebuilding process, the former champions started since the start of this year’s edition and shared that he was impressed with some of the young players like Muhammad Irfan Khan.
“I’ve been impressed with some of the young guys like [Irfan Khan] Niazi. He’s come such a long way from where he was last year,” Bopara stated.
“The first time I saw him was last year and where he is today, is a big difference.
He’s growing in confidence. I personally feel that he’s probably the best fielder in Pakistan as well and he showed it in this competition how good he is.
“He saves us easily seven to 10 or even more runs in every innings. And, his batting is really coming on and he’s becoming more and more powerful and confident.
“He’s certainly the future for Karachi Kings and some of the young bowlers coming through as well.
Unfortunately, they haven’t had a chance to play that much. We can’t fit them in at the moment but hopefully, during the competition, you may see some of the new guys come through.”
